Sports Bulletin Report
Torino (Italy): Seven years later, the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Youth World Championships will make its return to China, as Guiyang is set to be the second city in the country to host the event – the first one being Guangzhou in 2016.
Kicking off on Thursday, 22 August, only a few days after the end of the Paris Olympics, the Youth Worlds are the largest IFSC event in the calendar by number of participating athletes, matching perfectly with the 4.3 million people that populates the Guiyang municipality.
The schedule of the event, running until Saturday, 31 August, will feature competitions in all Climbing disciplines – Boulder, Lead, and Speed – and three age groups – Under 16, Under 18, and Under 20.
At last year’s Youth World Championships in Seoul, South Korea, Belgium’s Hannes Van Duysen added two accolades to the World Cup silver he won in Hachioji, Japan, only a few months earlier – gold in men’s U20 Lead, bronze in men’s U20 Boulder. Similarly, Sara Copar of Slovenia won the women’s U20 Lead gold medal and placed second in the women’s U20 Boulder event.
“My experience at last year's Youth World Championships experience was awesome. I think the organisers did a great job and so did the routesetters. The routes and boulders were amazing. I was able to fight hard but also enjoy while climbing,” said Copar, born in 2005 and still eligible to compete at the 2024 edition.
“Competing in such big competitions is always something special. There is no place for mistakes, and you really must show up and do your best. That is why those competitions can be stressful. But if the atmosphere is good and if you have good people around you who support you, everything is possible.
“Everything was happening so fast and there was not much time to process what was happening in between the rounds. In the end, I achieved something, which still feels insane with people who really mean a lot to me.” Indeed, with the two medals won in Seoul, the Slovenian climber from Lasko brought her total medal count at the Youth Worlds to five golds and three silvers, all won between 2019 and 2023 in Boulder, Lead, and Combined.
She concluded: “The best part outside of the competition was seeing all my friends from other countries again and meeting some new ones. We had so much fun there. We were exploring the city and trying new things together. It was an amazing experience.”
